The trick? Find the right influencer in your niche so that you're targeting the right audience. It's not just about spreading your message. It's about spreading your message to the right consumer base. If you can do that properly, then you can likely reach a sizable audience for not much money invested when you think about the potential profit it can return.
Create a content plan that outlines how many videos you’ll make, what type of videos, and where you’ll share them. This plan should include a wide variety of video types from case studies to interviews, testimonials, educational videos, etc. According to the Nonprofit Marketing Guide, “the most popular video for nonprofits is storytelling about participants or supporters with 60% of nonprofits creating them.” The second most popular videos are fundraising appeals, which one-third of nonprofits produce.
View Count: View count is the number of times your video has been viewed — also referred to as reach. This metric is great to track if your goal is to increase brand awareness and have your content seen by as many people as possible. However, it's important to remember that every video hosting platform measures a view differently. For example, a view on YouTube is 30 seconds while a view on Facebook is only 3 seconds. Be sure to read the fine print before reporting on your video view count.
By planning your video content in advance, as is done at the strategy stage, you give yourself the opportunity to more efficiently and effectively create that content. Filming and editing footage in batches across multiple videos allows you to embrace economies of scale. If you're producing a lot of similar content then video templates can help you keep a consistent look and feel to your videos, in line with your brand. Basically, as with most things in life, planning ahead saves you time and money in the long run — and more importantly it sets you up for success.
There’s a lot leading up to this day, but what a day! Production dayExtended Article7 Must-Know Tips for Production Day FilmingIt’s production day! All your planning and creative brainstorming have led to this. Whether you’re handling production yourself or have hired a team to… Read More can be crazy and hectic, or totally cool and organized. It’s when you finally see your video come to life for the first time — there’s a definite feeling of accomplishment. Exciting as it may be, there’s still a lot to do to ensure your video is the best it can be.
Professional cameras, like DSLRs, give you fine control over the manual settings of shooting video and allow you to achieve the shallow depth of field (background out of focus) that people rave about. While they're primarily used for photography, DSLRs are incredibly small, work great in low light situations, and pair with a wide range of lenses — making them perfect for video. However, DSLRs do require some training (and additional purchases) of lenses.
Determine whether it’s better to create the video content in-house or to hire an agency to handle it. It’s tempting to go the in-house route as it’s generally seen as the most cost effective, but that can be a mistake. As Sophia Bernazzani writes, “Videos are hard to make – and it shows. The internet is populated with far too many slideshows and photos set to music that are masquerading as videos.”
Yes, you read that title correctly. That out of their minds, slightly alcoholic team over at Epic Meal Time were the first to teach me about YouTube marketing. As with all successful YouTube channels, they had to build their own channel themselves. There was no network backing them or an executive producer coming on board to show them the ropes. There wasn’t even anyone with any real experience!
Begin with a review of your existing video content. Which formats and topics have you covered, and which have you missied? What's working and what isn't? A thorough audit will help to pick out the strengths and weaknesses of your current videos and suggest areas for improvement. Check out our blog post for a guide to conducting your own video audit.
One way to connect with customers is by posting tutorials relevant to your line of work. While it may seem as though you will be giving away your secrets, you’ll actually establish yourself as a subject matter expert, leading viewers to want to learn more about your business. A salon could offer styling tips, for instance, and a marketing firm could do a series on building your brand using the latest social media site.
Test and listen. Think you can record the perfect voice over in just one take? Think again! Invest in a good pair of headphones and keep an eye on your audio quality throughout the recording process. It's easier to get a new take of audio than trying to fix it during the editing process. We recommend running through your script a few times, especially the first few paragraphs, to ensure that your voice is fully warmed up. If you hear popping or hissing sounds, try standing further away from the mic or invest in a pop filter.
Now that you know what stage of the marketing funnel you’ll be targeting, it’s time to figure out who your intended audience is. This is also a crucial step; if you create a video without a specific audience in mind, it’s much more likely to be a flop. Those who are meant to watch it won’t, and those who do watch it won’t convert. So, how do you know who your target audienceExtended ArticleHow Do You Find the Target Audience for Your Brand Videos?One of the first steps in creating your video marketing strategy is figuring out exactly who you want your videos to reach. This is… Read More is?
Sound: Yes, often viewers are watching video ads on silent, mainly on Facebook. But when they’re not, what a world of difference a good track adds to your video. A great tip from the Promo sound editor was, to conder sound an enhancement to every video. A recent study found that when the music in an advertisement fits the message and imagery of the commercial, consumers were significantly more emotionally affected and remembered it longer. Now, this means you can choose music that plays to the tone of the video, or for a bit of humor, take your sound in the opposite direction. This contrast can be video magic and certainly something to make sure you’re remembered.
It is estimated that 92% of people who consume mobile videos share them with other people. This is a massive portion and is higher than the share rate of many other types of content out there. Simply Measured discovered that video is shared 1,200% more than both links and text combined. Also, 60% of viewers will engage in a video post before a text post, according to Diode Digital. Because of this, video content is a powerful tool for any brand that wants to expand its reach online or enjoy wider audiences.
Tripods range tremendously in price, and the quality of your tripod should depend on the level of camera and lens you have. If you're shooting with your phone, you can get by with a table mount like the Arkon Tripod Mount or a full-size tripod like the Acuvar 50” Aluminum Tripod. For a DSLR, Manfrotto makes a variety of trustworthy tripods starting with the Manfrotto BeFree and increasing in quality and price from there.
On the surface, the how of video marketing is pretty simple: Your brand creates videos that, in some way or another, promote your company, drive sales, raise awareness of your products or services, or engage your customers. In practice, it’s a little more complicated. Like many of your marketing efforts, video marketing is data driven, so you’ll want to monitor various metrics and track customer engagement.
When starting, choose two or three types of videos and create a bullet list or spreadsheet with proposed topics, a brief outline, and estimated length of the video. Keep in mind that videos up to 2 minutes long tend to get the most engagement. You also want to make sure that each video has a specific call to action for your viewers like subscribing to your email marketing contact list, calling your office, or purchasing a product on your ecommerce storefront.
When it comes time to shoot, clear out unnecessary people from the room and turn off the overhead lights. With your three-point lighting setup, there will be no need for those harsh fluorescents. When — and only when — everything is set up, call in your talent. There's nothing worse than being nervous, and then having to anxiously watch as lights are turned on and the camera is tested.
Search ads aren’t video-friendly just yet, but you can target high-volume keywords related to your product, service, or brand and create a landing page for your video content. Whether your goal is to educate about a certain topic or introduce your product, you can drive these high-traffic keywords to your page for a low cost per click and get huge returns.
There are endless platforms for video marketing. YouTube, broadcast television, video boards and street marketing, you name it. The possibilities are endless. With a smartphone, consumers can access online video anytime, anywhere. The same is not true with traditional, paper marketing. With video, you can reach your audience wherever they are in a cost-effective way.
Before you start filming, set a music budget and research your local copyright laws. Copyright law can be very difficult to decipher, especially when you're dealing with digital content. Bottom line: Most music isn't free. If you use another artist's music without permission or proper licensing, you risk video removal and legal action. In order to avoid copyright infringement, you'll need to find royalty free tunes or pay a composer to create an original score. Royalty free songs aren't free to use; they're quality songs available for a single flat fee. This means you don't have to worry about paying additional licensing fees or royalties in the future. YouTube, Pond5, and PremiumBeat are all great sites to find royalty free music.
The truth is that what got you to this point in business is likely not going to get you to the next level. If you're feeling stuck, join the fray. Most entrepreneurs are so busy working "in" their businesses that they fail to work "on" their businesses. As a result of dealing with the day-to-day operations of a company that includes customer hand-holding, supply-chain demands and more, we often neglect to wield the right marketing strategies that will help fuel our business's growth.
Next, consider your audience and the overall mood for your production. Are you targeting a small audience that will appreciate the newest, underground hip-hop track, or do you need something that will appeal to many demographics? Are you creating a practical product tutorial or an upbeat event recap? Be sure to choose music that enhances the overall tone of your video.
However, in a social media context, video marketers must remember that people share emotions, not facts. 76% of users say they would share a branded video with their friends if it was entertaining. So create fun entertaining videos to encourage social shares. Emotions are not exactly ROI but social shares can increase traffic to your site, and you can take it from there.
Sound: Yes, often viewers are watching video ads on silent, mainly on Facebook. But when they’re not, what a world of difference a good track adds to your video. A great tip from the Promo sound editor was, to conder sound an enhancement to every video. A recent study found that when the music in an advertisement fits the message and imagery of the commercial, consumers were significantly more emotionally affected and remembered it longer. Now, this means you can choose music that plays to the tone of the video, or for a bit of humor, take your sound in the opposite direction. This contrast can be video magic and certainly something to make sure you’re remembered.

Enterprises turn to NGDATA’s Intelligent Engagement Platform to uncover emerging opportunities in customer data and for the orchestration of hyper-relevant experiences. Through an intuitive UI, Marketers & business users gain unprecedented access to internal & external data and an AI-powered suite of capabilities to analyze, predict, and orchestrate dynamic 1:1 experiences across millions of customers in real-time. Enabling brands to deliver experiences as unique as the people who receive them, at the time and place they matter most.

According to HubSpot, 80% of customers remember a video they’ve watched in the last month. One of the biggest strengths of video marketing is that it’s highly visual and auditory, which means it’s easier for many users to remember than text-based content. When customers remember your video marketing content, they also remember your brand, which translates to more sales and leads for you. What’s more, customers typically like to share videos they enjoy, which can expand your online reach.
Video advertising is becoming more and more affordable and widespread. Video adoption grows partly because advances in technology but also because it’s easy to spread across the globe. Making marketing videos for your business requires creativity and knowledge of human psychology. The cocktail of these components makes it possible to create real miracles of advertising at minimal cost.
Pixels track everyone who comes to your site, and you can build custom audiences around them. For example, if you post content about how to learn to drive a semi-truck, and you track visitors with pixels, you can then market truck driving certification to people who have already shown an interest in that already because they visited that specific page. And your conversions will skyrocket.
Finally, you need to execute the plan for marketing and distributing your content that was created at the strategic stage. Like any other part of content marketing, video isn't successful unless your target audience see it and engage with it in the way you want. And your video content marketing strategy as a whole won't work unless each piece of video content comes together to form a cohesive marketing funnel moving leads from awareness to consideration to decision.
But while you're maintaining the fun level on set, remain vigilant. It's your job to pay attention to the little things, like making sure all of the mics are on or noticing if the lighting changes. Record each section many times and have your talent play with inflections. When you think they've nailed the shot … get just one more. At this point, your talent is already on a roll, and options will help tremendously during editing.
Posting your video on social platforms is also basically required, though the social channels you choose may differ depending on where your audience is most active. You’ll also want to think about posting your video natively; most social platforms give native videos preference over video links from other sources. Post your video natively where you can, and keep an eye on your platform-specific data.

What’s so powerful about video marketing is it covers your marketing strategy from top to bottom. Why? First, it’s essential to take a look at video viewership. According to CISCO, video traffic will be 82% of all global consumer Internet traffic by 2021. Whatsmore, YouTube just released that people are spending over 1 billion hours watching video each day. That’s billion with a “B”! All you need is to grab 30 seconds of that precious time to make an impact on your business.

Your first opportunity to delight comes directly after the purchase. Consider sending a thank you video to welcome them into the community or an on-boarding video to get them rolling with their new purchase. Then, build out a library of educational courses or product training videos to cater to consumers who prefer self-service or simply want to expand their expertise.
Sound: Yes, often viewers are watching video ads on silent, mainly on Facebook. But when they’re not, what a world of difference a good track adds to your video. A great tip from the Promo sound editor was, to conder sound an enhancement to every video. A recent study found that when the music in an advertisement fits the message and imagery of the commercial, consumers were significantly more emotionally affected and remembered it longer. Now, this means you can choose music that plays to the tone of the video, or for a bit of humor, take your sound in the opposite direction. This contrast can be video magic and certainly something to make sure you’re remembered.

Nonetheless, NGO video marketing faces many challenges, particularly limited resources. 45% of nonprofit communicators report that their workload is too heavy and 17% say it is “much too heavy.” The good news is that even with these limitations of manpower and budget, an effective NGO video marketing strategy is still possible. Just follow these seven tips to get started:

Video experts often credit 24fps with a more “cinematic” look, while 30fps is more common, especially for videos that need to be projected or broadcasted. A good rule of thumb is to ask the end user of your video what his or her preferences are and shoot based on that. Then, be sure your resolution is at least 1920 x 1080 to maintain quality footage.

That said, simply knowing how much video is being consumed and thus you need to be using video to grow your business, is not enough. The essential element of making video marketing work in your favor is creative content, strategy and consistency of publishing. Your videos need to be ones that get attention and engagement and you also need to approach it methodically with a performance mindset.
View Count: View count is the number of times your video has been viewed — also referred to as reach. This metric is great to track if your goal is to increase brand awareness and have your content seen by as many people as possible. However, it's important to remember that every video hosting platform measures a view differently. For example, a view on YouTube is 30 seconds while a view on Facebook is only 3 seconds. Be sure to read the fine print before reporting on your video view count.
In addition to visual editing, you can (and should) add graphic effects to your branded video. These graphic elements can include animation, text graphics, fade ins or outs, lower-third graphic overlays, interview names and titles, logos, product modeling, and more. These elements really tie all your branding efforts together, so use them smartly and you’ll have a professional video you can be proud of.
As you’re planning your entire production, from creative ideation to actual video distribution, you should have a timeline to stick to. You should actually have multiple — overall timeline, production timeline, distribution timeline, and more. Your timeline serves as your guiding light, keeping you aware of how much you’ve done and what’s left to do.